Francis Ford Coppola Promotes Recruitment, Development and Advancement of Women in Baseball

GEYSERVILLE, Calif. (June 28, 2016) – In an effort to promote the recruitment, development and advancement of women in baseball, Francis Ford Coppola’s Virginia Dare Winery in association with the Sonoma Stompers, an independent professional baseball team, have been actively searching for the best women baseball players in the United States to come and join the team. It was announced today that 17-year-old outfielder/pitcher Kelsie Whitmore from Temecula, California and 25-year-old pitcher/infielder Stacy Piagno from St. Augustine, Florida have been recruited and will play with the Stompers beginning on July 1st when Sonoma hosts the San Rafael Pacifics.

“My family would play co-ed baseball games and inevitably the star player would always be an aunt who could run and hit and that made the games so much more fun,” said Francis Ford Coppola. “When watching major league baseball, I always wondered why there couldn’t be a co-ed team. It’s the one major sport in which weight and strength come less into play. So when my Sonoma winery became involved with the Stompers, I had the opportunity to turn this thought into a reality and recruit these amazing women capable of playing alongside men.”

The Stompers, which are part of the independent Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs, will be the first co-ed professional baseball team since the 1950s when Toni Stone, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson and Constance Morgan achieved the distinction of becoming the first women to play alongside men in the Negro Leagues.

“The Stompers, thanks to the vision of Francis Ford Coppola, are dedicated to the advancement of women in baseball,” said Theo Fightmaster, VP & General Manager of the Sonoma Stompers Baseball Club. “While many believe it's only a matter of time before we see a woman playing in the MLB, we've learned over the past several months that there are many steps in between where we are and where we should be in terms of woman in this sport. We hope this sends a message to the rest of the baseball world that there is room for women and girls in this game – from Little League to the Major Leagues.”

In September, Whitmore and Piagno are also slated to play for Team USA in the Women’s Baseball World Cup in South Korea. Whitmore, who recently graduated from Temecula Valley High School, will attend Cal State Fullerton on a softball scholarship next season. Piagno, who threw a no-hitter for the United States team when they captured a gold medal at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, Canada, played softball at the University of Tampa.

The Stompers have always looked to push the envelope since their inception in 2014 when former Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos left-handed pitcher, Bill 'Spaceman' Lee, became the oldest player to win a professional baseball game. In 2015, the Stompers agreed to let nationally acclaimed baseball writers, Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller, implement a data-driven approach to evaluating and signing players. Lindberg and Miller chronicled their experience in the New York Times best-selling book, "The Only Rule is it Has to Work: Our Wild Experiment Building a New Kind of Baseball Team." Also in 2015, the Stompers made international news when pitcher, Sean Conroy, became the first openly gay player to ever play at the professional level.

The July 1st game from Peoples Home Equity Ballpark at Arnold Field in Sonoma, California will be available via a live streaming broadcast on BAOSN.TV (Bay Area Online Sports Network) with veteran announcer Joe Castellano calling the play-by-play, reporter Kate Rooney and Stompers broadcaster Tim Livingston. The broadcast will begin at 5:45 pm PT with a special pre-game show prior to the 6:00 pm PT first pitch.

As the premier sponsor of the Sonoma Stompers, the Virginia Dare Wineryin Sonoma County is partnering with the team over the next three years. The Stompers opened the season May 31, 2016, and started their home season in Sonoma on Tuesday, June 7, at 6 p.m. against the Vallejo Admirals. Full Season tickets, mini-plans and partial season tickets are on sale at www.Stompersbaseball.com.

ABOUT THE SONOMA STOMPERS

The Sonoma Stompers Professional Baseball Club was founded in 2014 and is a member of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs. It plays its home games at Peoples Home Equity Ballpark at Arnold Field, just a block away from Sonoma’s historic plaza. The independent baseball club has had two players in its history signed by Major League Baseball organizations, as Sonoma’s own Jayce Ray was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 2015 and Santos Saldivar was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers shortly before the 2016 season. For more information on the team, visit StompersBaseball.com or visit the team’s Fan Shop located at 234 West Napa Street, Sonoma, CA 95476.

ABOUT VIRGINIA DARE WINERY

Virginia Dare Winery, American wines since 1835, pays tribute to America’s winegrowing heritage. The existence of the 400-year-old scuppernong “Mother Vine,” a variety of muscadine, growing on Roanoke Island, North Carolina is intertwined with the story of one of the first English settlements in the New World, which later mysteriously disappeared without a trace, leaving nothing but a spellbinding story of mythical and mysterious characters – each of which grace the labels of our wines. Crafted with grapes from the finest viticulture regions in California, our wines are rich with characteristics befitting an American legend: Pure. Natural. Distinctive. Learn more by visiting Virginia Dare Winery located at 22281 Chianti Road, Geyserville, CA 95441.

Francis Ford Coppola’s Sonoma County Winery Supports Local Baseball Club as Premier Partner

GEYSERVILLE, Calif. (June 1, 2016) – Virginia Dare Winery announced today that it has signed on as the premier partner of the Sonoma Stompers as part of a three-year sponsorship agreement. The independent, professional baseball team located at People’s Home Equity Ballpark at Arnold Field in the heart of Sonoma will partner with the historical winery whose origins date back to the 1830s, aligning with the beginning of baseball in the United States. American wines since 1835, Virginia Dare Winery celebrates the myths, people, places and history that shaped winemaking in this country.

“The Virginia Dare Winery and baseball both began around the same time in American history which is why this partnership is so fitting,” said Francis Ford Coppola. “As a baseball fan, I’m excited to be supporting a local team while also paying homage to the sport’s origins.”

Visitors to the ballpark will notice a few renovations this year, mostly to the ballpark’s most upscale food and beverage club section, which is now called Werowocomoco (WHERE-oh-whoa-como-ko). The name comes from the capital of the Powhatan Confederacy when Jamestown was founded in 1607, and ties in nicely with the early American Virginia Dare heritage story.

The Stompers opened the season May 31, 2016, and start their home season in Sonoma on Tuesday, June 7, at 6 p.m. against the Vallejo Admirals. Full Season tickets, mini-plans and partial season tickets are on sale at www.Stompersbaseball.com.

About Virginia Dare Winery

Virginia Dare Winery, American wines since 1835, pays tribute to America’s winegrowing heritage. The existence of the 400-year-old scuppernong “Mother Vine,” a variety of muscadine, growing on Roanoke Island, North Carolina is intertwined with the story of one of the first English settlements in the New World, which later mysteriously disappeared without a trace, leaving nothing but a spellbinding story of mythical and mysterious characters – each of which grace the labels of our wines. Crafted with grapes from the finest viticulture regions in California, our wines are rich with characteristics befitting an American legend: Pure. Natural. Distinctive. Learn more by visiting Virginia Dare Winery located at 22281 Chianti Road, Geyserville, CA 95441.

About the Sonoma Stompers

The Sonoma Stompers Professional Baseball Club was founded in 2014 and is a member of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs. It plays its home games at People’s Home Equity Ballpark at Arnold Field, just a block away from Sonoma’s historic square. The independent baseball club has had two players in its history signed by Major League Baseball organizations, as Sonoma’s own Jayce Ray was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 2015 and Santos Saldivar was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers shortly before the 2016 season. For more information on the team, visit StompersBaseball.com or visit the team’s Fan Shop located at 234 West Napa Street, Sonoma, CA 95476.

Francis Ford Coppola Pays Homage to One of America’s First Wine Brands with Virginia Dare Wine

Located in Sonoma County’s Geyserville, Virginia Dare Winery pays homage to the influential people, places and stories that are part of the origins of early American winemaking.

After more than a year of speculation, American Pioneer Wine Growers (APWG) is proud to officially unveil the name of its new property, Virginia Dare Winery. Located in Sonoma County’s Geyserville, Virginia Dare Winery pays homage to the influential people, places and stories that are part of the origins of early American winemaking. Over the past year, APWG has released a series of four wines – The White Doe, Manteo, Two Arrowheads and The Lost Colony – each revealing a different aspect of the Virginia Dare legend ultimately culminating in the unveiling of the new winery name.

“The myth of Virginia Dare always intrigued me, and as a child I remember the Virginia Dare wine because of the pretty blonde girl on the label and the 'Say it again, Virginia Dare’ jingle they used to advertise on the radio,” said Francis Coppola. “My goal is to revive the wine brand so that it isn’t lost to future generations. The winery’s new home in Geyserville is the ideal location in the heart of American wine country to tell the origin stories of American wine.”

Virginia Dare was the first English child born in the New World to colonists in 1587. Virginia’s fate became a mystery after her colony, now referred to as the Lost Colony, vanished from Roanoke Island in the late 1500s. Legend has it that she lived among the Native Americans and grew into a beautiful young woman trapped in the middle of a tragic love triangle when she was turned into a White Doe and ultimately killed. On the very spot where she bled and died, a grapevine sprouted with its fruit stained red. According to the legend, this is how the white wine of America became red wine. The grapevine is widely believed to be the 400-year old Mother Vine, reportedly the oldest cultivated grapevine in North America which still exists today -- a clipping of which will soon be planted in Virginia Dare Winery’s estate vineyard.

The story of the Virginia Dare Winery began with North Carolina’s first commercial winery, Medoc Vineyard, which opened in 1835. Two businessmen, known as the Garrett brothers, purchased the property in 1865 calling it Garrett & Company. They began producing the Virginia Dare label which quickly became one of the nation’s top selling wines. With the start of Prohibition in 1919, Garrett & Company was forced to move, first to Brooklyn, New York, and then to Cucamonga, California, where the business transformed into the Virginia Dare Winery. It was one of the first wineries to sell wine after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 and was considered a booming business for much of the late 40s and 50s, but eventually saw turmoil and nearly faded into history.

Today, the revitalized Virginia Dare Winery celebrates the genesis of American winemaking. Along with the spellbinding Virginia Dare story, it pays homage to the mythical and mysterious characters which grace the labels of the wines - The White Doe, Two Arrowheads, Manteo, The Lost Colony, and soon Virginia Dare Chardonnay and Virginia Dare Pinot Noir, both sourced from Sonoma County’s Russian River Valley. For more information, please visit www.VirginiaDareWinery.com.

ABOUT AMERICAN PIONEER WINE GROWERS

American Pioneer Wine Growers, American wines since 1835, pays tribute to America’s winegrowing heritage. The existence of the 400-year-old scuppernong "Mother Vine" growing on Roanoke Island, North Carolina is intertwined with the story of one of the first English settlements in the New World, which later mysteriously disappeared without a trace, leaving nothing but a spellbinding story of mythical and mysterious characters – each of which grace the labels of our wines. Crafted with grapes from the finest viticulture regions in California, our wines are rich with characteristics befitting an American legend: Pure. Natural. Distinctive. Learn more by visiting Virginia Dare Winery located at 22281 Chianti Road, Geyserville, CA 95441.

Francis Ford Coppola Unveils First-Ever Short Story Vending Machine in U.S.

Academy Award-winning director, producer, screenwriter and California vintner Francis Ford Coppola announced today that he will install the U.S.’s very first short story vending machine designed by Short Edition in San Francisco’s Café Zoetrope, his European-style North Beach cafe, on Tuesday, May 10.

Designed and launched by shortEdition, a French start-up company, the short story vending machines first debuted in the fall of 2015 in the French Alps, and quickly gained popularity and drew fascination from locals and visitors. The innovative machines combine the immediacy of on-demand technology with the timeless charm of storytelling. The machine is very straightforward and user-friendly.

Sure to be a global sensation, the machine is making its very first appearance in the States, and printing stories in English for the first time as well.

“This intriguing short story machine gives us a great opportunity to merge the innovation of today’s world with the nostalgic allure of classic manuscripts,” said Francis Ford Coppola. I'd like to see the city of San Francisco put them everywhere so that while waiting for a bus, or marriage license, or lunch, you could get an artistic lift free of charge.”

The Short Stories Distributor - At the push of a button, a user is able to print a story to read and keep - free of charge.

Shortly after the machine’s unveiling, Coppola’s acclaimed literary magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story, plans to invite writers to submit their own short stories to Coppola’s online writing workshop, the Virtual Studio (www.zoetrope.com), where the editors will review each submission, select the best of them, and – with the respective writers’ permissions – add these stories to the machine. The goal will be to update the machine with new content on a seasonal basis throughout the year. In February, Zoetrope: All-Story won the 2016 National Magazine Award for fiction, the highest honor due an American periodical, over fellow finalists The New Yorker and Harper’s Magazine. This year marks the third time the magazine has received this prestigious award.

The short story vending machine will be unveiled on Tuesday, May 10, during Café Zoetrope’s traditional Tavola - Tasting Event, Art Show & Live Music evening, an authentic Italian dining experience featuring an array of special culinary delights, complemented by live music, local art and hand-crafted wines from Francis Ford Coppola Winery. Guests will have the opportunity to experience the short story machine firsthand, while enjoying an evening of festivities.

Francis Ford Coppola Re-launches His Virtual Studio, Zoetrope.com

Academy Award-winning director, producer, screenwriter and California vintner Francis Ford Coppola today announced the re-launch of The Family Coppola’s Zoetrope.com website, the premier home and virtual studio for the writing community. The redesign showcases many enhanced options, one of the most notable additions being the highly anticipated section for short films.

Francis Ford Coppola Re-launches His Virtual Studio, Zoetrope.com, with New Short Films Section and Enhanced Platform

San Francisco, CA (July 6, 2016) – Academy Award-winning director, producer, screenwriter and California vintner Francis Ford Coppola today announced the re-launch of The Family Coppola’s Zoetrope.com website, the premier home and virtual studio for the writing community. The redesign showcases many enhanced options, one of the most notable additions being the highly anticipated section for short films.

Zoetrope.com, an interactive crowd-sourcing, online writing workshop platform, was originally launched nearly two decades ago, with the intention that it would be a network for artists, but more importantly would provide a great source of content and story ideas for Coppola’s acclaimed literary magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story. However, the platform quickly gained traction among writers as a vibrant online community. A revolutionary use of the internet at the time, Zoetrope.com established itself as an early pioneer in social media. Writers that had been working in isolation now had an engaging community where they could share their stories, make contacts, and learn from one another. Directors, producers and other artists soon joined and the site transformed into a virtual studio. The website set the precedent for a new era of crowd-sourcing and writing workshops.

Coppola has always envisioned the site as a means to benefit the creative community. Zoetrope.com is free to join, and always has been. “When I was a kid I remember looking in the locked gates of a movie studio which was across the street from the Junior High School I was attending. I was wishing that I could get in and see what these mythical movie studios were. Years later I actually bought that studio, and I went to that Junior High School and I talked about it to the students and I said alright kids lets go, and I took them across the street and right in through the studio gates. And that’s what I was trying to do with this site – let everyone have access to a movie studio or set a new context of creative community for people interested in cinema, music, acting, art, graphics, photography, songwriting, and so on,” said Francis Coppola.

The newly revitalized Zoetrope.com is not only comprehensive, modernized, more efficient and faster, it also has an added short films section in which screenwriters, directors and producers can receive peer feedback. The site encompasses acting resumes, photography, song writing, short films, stories, novels, scripts, short flash fiction, poetry, music, and photos. For every story a member submits, they are required to review five other works, so each person gets exposed to other writing which provides growing opportunities in addition to receiving feedback. Members can also create groups based on specific interests and areas of creativity, as well as invite friends and other members to join. In addition to these benefits, work submitted may also be considered for inclusion in Zoetrope: All-Story, as well as the very first short story vending machine in the United States, designed by Short Edition and housed in Coppola’s San Francisco restaurant, Cafe Zoetrope.

Recently launched alongside the revised Zoetrope.com are two writing contests, the twentieth annual Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Contest and the fourteenth annual American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest, both of which are running on Zoetrope.com where anyone can submit entries. The grand prize for the fiction contest is $1,000 and $5,000 for the screenplay contest. Both contest winners will also receive consideration from top literary and talent agencies. For more information and to enter: http://www.zoetrope.com/contests.

About The Family Coppola

The Family Coppola encompasses all of the things Francis loves most – cinema, wine, food, resorts, and adventure – and embraces quality, authenticity and pleasure. Anchored in Sonoma County, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, is, as Francis puts it, “a wine wonderland, a park of pleasure where people of all ages can enjoy all the best things in life: food, wine, music, dancing, games, swimming and performances of all types. A place to celebrate the love of life.” Coppola’s second foray into Sonoma County came in 2015 with the launch of Virginia Dare Winery, American wines since 1835, ushering in a new era of elevated quality and vineyard-specific wines. The Coppola Resorts are a collection of unique properties where adventure meets serenity. Drawing upon inspiration from Coppola’s film career and travels around the globe to the far reaching corners of the world, the resorts are an ideal destination for exploring the natural wonders of off-the-beaten-track locales while relaxing in tranquil surroundings. Additionally, The Family Coppola operates a venerable film production company, American Zoetrope; a virtual studio for online writing workshops, Zoetrope.com; the award-winning all-literary magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story; Cafe Zoetrope in San Francisco’s iconic Sentinel Building in North Beach; and Mammarella Foods, an authentic line of premium organic pastas and sauces. www.TheFamilyCoppola.com.

About Zoetrope: All-Story

Coppola founded Zoetrope: All-Story in 1997 to reinvigorate the American storytelling tradition, drawing his inspiration from the short story periodicals of the 1930s era that supported the careers of writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker. Under Coppola’s leadership, the magazine has become one of the world’s most celebrated literary publications, winning a number of international design commendations and many major story awards, including three National Magazine Awards for fiction, in 2001, 2012 and 2016. For more information on Zoetrope: All-Story, please visit www.all-story.com. For subscriptions: www.all-story.com/subscribe.cgi.